Red vs Blue : What I Want
by TaquetoCagy
Summary: A story following two young people as they enter the Freelancer Program and the various experiments within said program. But what happens when old ties come to light... ones that could cause fatal consiquences.
1. Chapter 1: Neither Bad nor Good

Project Freelancer, Archives.

Director's Monthly Record

[DATA ERASED]

…_The final two AI are soon to be placed into hosts, the final experiments begun. There is nothing to suspect that the new two privates who have so willingly asked to join our ranks will be less than sufficient for the task at hand. The one thing that does worry me, however, is the young age. Eighteen, and twenty. They say they have been friends for ages, and I don't doubt that, which is what makes them ideal for the experiment at hand. The problem is the Eighteen year old. I am afraid her young mind, which is still suffering from adolescence, will not be able to handle the burden of an AI. _

_Still she assures me that she will be able to handle whatever this AI, Phi, will throw at her…And with her confidence its hard not to believe. Still, she is of age, and who am I to tell her no? Lets just see what happens with an AI in a younger skull. _

_Her friend is of a more mature age, though she is the definite leader of the two. He worries me as all new volunteers for this program do. He can be jittery, and he seems to like to make sure everything is in tight order. Yet another experiment. These two seem to be the best two we've had yet as far as the experimental venture of this program goes. _

_The two have also agreed to another experiment beyond just the AI implantation. They have agreed to be two of three Freelancers that are going to be part of the "Time Capsule Project," a mini-project that I have decided to conduct. The three will be placed in specialized Chambers and be put to rest for some time, until I or a new Director decides to wake them. With that in mind, they are going to be supervised by me so long as I am capable of doing so, for under my direction, I hope they will be the best that the project has ever seen before_…

CHAPTER ONE: NEITHER BAD NOR GOOD

They had said, once, that humans are a kind selfish, greedy and generally violent animal. She remembered arguing that. She's said that it was true; people were selfish and greedy and sometimes violent. So were Raccoons and Deer and all kinds of animals. Because that was nature itself, that was survival and natural selection. People only thought that because we no longer knew what natural selection was, because back then it was more then just getting picked off on a battle field. The ability to overcome that was what made them human, what made them people, and what allowed them to thrive as a culture. The ability to cooperate and solve problems using more than one person and a simple tool. That was the human race. Neither bad, nor good, just trying to survive.

She walked down the hall, her head still pounding a little and the new voice in her head just shy of annoying. His name was Phi, and he was an Artificial Intelligence. An AI. Like a computer program. All AI's were based off of a human mind, or a human trait. He was the Intuitive AI, and apparently was capable to tell when someone was telling a lie. That didn't mean he had to tell her if they were in the middle of a mission or not, because sometimes lies are necessary. Even Phi knew that, she learned as he told her about himself. He told her he was glad he was finally going to be used as he was intended to be. And then something about the Alpha. Phi seemed to brighten even more in her minds eye as he spoke about the Alpha. To her, Phi was a like a little boy, though he seemed, at the same time, to know exactly what he was talking about. At least, that was how she pictured him. If nothing else, they both where going to accent one another, because she had confidence oozing in her stride, and he could pick out lies from anything, so it was hard to think that the two would not make a suitable pair.

"But… who are you?" Phi asked suddenly, and she stopped short. He had skipped her end of the introduction. She knew he was being polite in asking, if he wanted to he could go through most of her head without a problem.

"I am Freelancer Agent Nebraska." she chimed, slowing to a stop as Phi took form outside of her, a small see-through projection of himself, which glowed like a small, yet not brightly lit, red lamp.

"I meant your name, Nebraska."

She smiled at Phi slightly. "I am Adianna Lee Machiavelli. But Adi is a lot easier to say, Phi." she started walking again. She was slim, not very tall, and was the youngest they had in the program. She was blond, and her hair liked to stick up in various places, like at the front where she had cowlicks and on the top with slight amounts of frizz, even though it was mostly straight. She had confidence in her face, her eyes. Pride in her being and in her footstep. She stood as tall as her body allowed and seemed to flow with the air; pride let her glide like that. Her eyes were so dark against her light skin that they seemed almost black, framed by even darker lashes and light eyebrows. She was fleshed out with the lean muscle that Boot Camp often gave its newcomers. She had on a black turtleneck and black paints, with a freelancer insignia on the shoulder. She had yet to get her new Armor, but she already had the AI Phi, and coming down the hall at her, her best friend.

At first, it looked like he was muttering to himself. He had the AI of Cynicism, Phi told her. Theta and Phi had been the final two implantations in the Freelancer project, which meant that the two of them were the last of the AI carrying Freelancers.

The implantation process, as it was explained to her, seemed fairly simple. AI's could drift from person to person if the need was necessary, and lived off the host's electric current. The original host had a small chip implanted into the brain, like a backup drive, for the AI. This allowed the AI to go with them wherever. Once they had a suit of Armor, and AI could transfer into that, and still be with them but go back to the backup drive if they wanted when the armor was removed. That's how AI's made a jump from one person to the next. They needed a suit of armor they could sustain themselves in. But they also need permission. When the backup drive in the Host's head was gone, stopped working, or the Host died they had to have Armor to be in, and quickly, because they would fade fast without the vital electric current. They could live off the energy reserves in a suit of armor for some time, but eventually that resource would die causing the AI to be lost unless another Freelancer… or anyone with Armor, for that matter, came by to get them from a dead or dying host. So the operation she and her friend had just undergone was getting that backup placed into themselves. That was how it worked, apparently.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Obviously, his head hurt. She could tell by the slight downturn of his normally upturned mouth and the way his brow furrowed as if he was concentrating on something. He was like a brother to her, and she didn't remember a time when the two hadn't been friends. "Agent Nebraska." A new voice said. "Phi. How nice to see you." Projected outside of her friend, Theta appeared. Not nearly as little-boyish as Phi seemed, Theta was an AI that seemed wary of the world, and yet still stood very tall despite this. He seemed gray, like steel.

"You must be Theta," Adianna said and nodded slightly at him. Phi launched into conversation with him immediately after. The two, though different, seemed to be friends.

"Adianna. How are you feeling?" Her friend asked suddenly, his bottle-blue eyes locking with hers. He was a contrast to her. He had blue eyes, dark hair, and was taller and more muscular. He was always smiling a little bit, as though the corners of his mouth where permanently, though only slightly, turned upward. He had fair skin, and his entire being was spotless. No blemishes, no loose strands or Irish Pennants hanging off his clothes. Not a spot, not a stain, not even a wrinkle in his crisply ironed black trousers and black shirt, which bore the same insignia as hers. He had OCD, though he was getting better about not constantly wanting to flatten Agent Nebraska's flyaway hair. "Its Agent Nebraska now."

"And I'm the queen of Scotland." He scoffed. "Seriously, we're best friends, and many of the Freelancers have nicknames for one another, or people just call them by a first name. It doesn't really matter right now. That, and I've known you since you still had a box of Disney Princess Training Pants in your room, and a pink plastic potty to go with."

At this, she laughed. That much was true, "Alright, alright, Asher Corey Adams." She laughed more as he scowled at the use of his middle name, her tone almost mocking. "Fine. Call me what you want, then. And I'm feeling okay… besides the headache."

Asher glanced at the AI's momentarily, then turned back to her. "I know what you mean. Its weird, having to share a brain with someone. Someone who's a computer program and probably smarter then the two of us combined." He tapped his head. "Mine hurts, too. But then, I doubt a little piece of foreign object in the brain tissue can be expected to not give you a headache for awhile."

"Nah, I think its just the AI's. We just haven't gotten used to them yet. Anyway, Asher. We need to get to Supply for our uniforms…and armor. I'm looking forward to seeing what special ability I have in mine.

Asher grinned. "Me too. Like superpowers only for real. We could be like in Star Wars, and have some awesome power that lets us use the force…!"

Adianna cut him off with a slight glare and a wave of the hand, though she was smiling. "Could you get _any _more geeky?" She chuckled.

"Of course I could. I could play World of Warcraft all day and never come outside, and then I could hack into computer mainframes and destroy anything I wanted to, and THEN I could wear khaki pants with suspenders, and a nice white shirt with a pocket protector and an arsenal of pens. Throwing pens. That I could use my epic super-secret ninja-powers on to kill you, and finish an essay about Antidisestablishmentarianism, and complete a love-letter to the preppy girl I'm actually to afraid to ask out or even give the letter because my poetry sucks and she thinks I'm a dork, and then have time to get some takeout Chinese. Then, I'll get to go curl up on the couch wile watching my favorite reruns of _Star Trek: The Next Generation _and eat some of Mama's homemade cookies. _" _

Adianna paused, eyebrows raised. "Wouldn't you have to leave the house to get the pens? I doubt you can get Throwing Pens on an online store."

"Well, you see, that's why I was killing you with the pens. I had to go to Office Max. And you saw me. Because secretly, I'm actually your arch enemy that's trying to undermine everything you do and kill your every joy. And with my pocket protector and arsenal of pens, I shall succeed." Asher grinned like a little kid on Christmas, flashing a set of perfectly white, unmarked, braces-straightened teeth.

Adianna made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded almost amused. "Busy day."

"Best ever, more like."

"I knew you hated me."

Asher laughed at this as Adianna grinned. This playful banter had been common between them, for years, and the AI's seemed to pick up on that and listen in on the…slightly confusing, very weird, conversation the two were having. Asher wound an arm around Adianna's shoulders. "You haven't seen anything yet, my dear."

They headed down the hall, Phi and Theta deep in conversation. They really didn't know where they were going, they just were walking, catching up on missed time. The passed another group of Freelancers, who stopped at the sight of them, Asher quickly removing his arm from her shoulders.

"You must be the newbie's." The female said, her helmet tucked under her arm, displaying brown hair and gray eyes. Her armor was purple, almost lavender, and had sea-green accents. Beside her, a small emerald-green person was next to her, floating in midair and slightly-see through. An AI.

On her other side, helmet also tucked under arm, was a man in black armor with yellow accents. It he had an AI, the AI wasn't showing itself.

Asher spoke first. "Yes. I am Agent Montana and this is Agent Nebraska." He said, reaching out and shaking hands with the two. Adianna nodded politely, then shook hands as well, both suddenly snapping into serious politeness.

"I thought you both came from Iowa. What did they do, give you random state names?" The woman asked, her voice and tone almost a scoff.

"No," Adianna shrugged. "We both came from Iowa, true, so we both took the names of the states we were born in."

The man mimicked Adianna's shrug. "Makes since to me, Saph." There was a pause. "I am Agent Washington. My AI is Epsilon. This is Agent South Dakota, her AI is Delta."

"Pleasure." Adianna and Asher chimed in unison.

"My AI is Theta." Asher said, and Adianna followed suit.

"Mine is Phi." He waved as she said his name, resulting in raised eyebrows and a slight hand-twitch from Washington.

Delta looked up suddenly, as though he hadn't been listening. "Are the two of you a team or separate?" He asked, not really saying who it was he was talking to, the AI's or the "Newbies" (As South had just called them. No surprise, though. It was true.)

"A team, so far as we know." Asher said, though his tone was uncertain. He glanced down silently at Adianna, who returned the quick, quiet look. "We haven't been told otherwise, and from the looks of it we're going to the same place, though we still don't know where that is or what we're going to be doing. We were on our way to go get our Armor right now."

"Hmm. Well, good luck to the both of you. The Supply office is at the end of this hallway, we just got ours fixed from a previous mission." South said, tapping her armor to signify that that was what was being talked about.

"And," Washington cut in suddenly, gaining a slight look of annoyance from South Dakota, "First time missions are usually given after Armor, because then you can better assess how to handle the mission and get to know the effects of one's armor and the special ability that comes with Freelancer gear."

"Thank you, Wash." South said, a tad on the sarcastic side. Asher and Adianna's thanks was much more sincere. After a quick, "See you around," The two groups of AI's and people went separate ways down the hall.

"That South chick was kind of creepy. Also, was it just me or was she kind of mean? I mean really," Adianna whispered. "Her eyes were like ice. Seriously."

"Perhaps she's just good at what she does. That, and we're new. She probably thinks that she's better than us. And experience wise, she probably is. Sometimes, if I piss you off enough, you get to be the same way." Asher laughed loudly, flinching back from her automatically as though he was expecting a punch to the arm.

"Phi and Theta, you guys all right? It suddenly got quiet." Adianna asked loudly, as if it was a half observation while she shot a glare at Asher, but did no more. If nothing else, proving his point.

Theta answered first. "Not that it matters much to you, but we're fine yes."

"If it didn't matter, she wouldn't have asked, Theta." Phi pointed out gently.

"You're a pessimist." Asher laughed at Theta, apparently still sort of giddy about getting a rise from Adianna. "Great."

"We just… It was Epsilon." Phi hesitated, sounding almost distracted as he spoke.

"What does that have to do with anything? He didn't even come out to say hello like Delta did."

"Perhaps he's just withdrawn. People get like that, y'know." Adianna suggested. "Shy."

"Epsilon is the AI of memory." Theta said flatly. "He may know things about the Alpha that the rest of us don't."

"The Alpha?" Asher asked curiously

"The Alpha was the main program we all stem from." Phi said simply. "The Alph--" Phi was cut off by Asher opening the Supply door and stepping into the office, regardless of the fact that they were in the middle of a conversation.

A desk sat at the front, and behind it were rows of uniform stuff. Cabinets of helmets, and racks of Trousers for dress uniforms and officer uniforms. Lucky, most of it was straight and neatly folded, keeping Asher from going insane. Some had Armor, others, had relaxed fit jackets. Yet another shelf had the same turtleneck sweater with the Freelancer Insignia on the sleeve. The same one that Adianna and Asher both had on. The man behind the desk had a small plaque on the desk baring his name, "Gunnery Sergeant Bunny." He was a thick man with very little hair and a scowl on his face. Beside him, his assistant, a boy Asher recognized from Boot Camp. Private Mack. Asher gritted his teeth and get ready for the hate-parade that was sure to come from Mack soon enough.

"Good to see you two finally showed up." Bunny said, standing. He had a deep, slightly gravely voice, which almost made the fact that his name was Bunny even better.

"Nice to see you, Adams." The thin little private nodded at Asher, though there was a spark of something else besides politeness in his eyes that Adianna picked up quickly. Anger, perhaps? Theta was sure to have pinpointed whatever it was by now. Asher nodded politely back, and then turned back to Bunny. "Sorry we took so long, Sir. We are suffering mild headaches due to the implants, and we ran into Agents Washington and South Dakota on our way here."

"Excuses." Bunny muttered, lighting a cigarette though he knew, as they all did, that was forbidden inside nowadays. Smoke came up in a lazy wisp from the glowing cherry of burning tobacco at the end. "Get here on time from now on. No more of this late crap, you hear me?" He waggled a thick finger at them like they had taken cookies from a jar on the shelf and they were six, if that.

"Yes sir." Adianna and Asher both said in unison. This only made it seem, to Adianna at least, that it made it more like a parent talking to naughty children.

"Now then. Mack, go get the new uniform and armor sets that just came in. Those are for these two here." Bunny gestured at them with his free hand, a quick, sweeping motion that Mack followed with obvious disdain for whatever had just been told to him.

"Sir," Mack said after a pause, his eyes opening wide. "You said they were replacement parts, not actual Freelancer armor…" He was cut off.

Bunny turned to glare at Mack. "It doesn't matter what I said, Private. What matters is that I need them now. Besides, your such a jealous little rat you'd probably had taken it or did something to it had I told you just what it was. Now go get it, and bring it here. And don't take long or I'm going to assume you did something to it or with it." Bunny said, his tone final. With a slight pout, Mack walked into the back of the Supply.

"Sorry about him. He never really did like the fact you made it in over him, Adams. He thought he was going to be first pick because he had a brother in the program. That, and you and miss… ah, Machiavelli, Is it? That's too long. I'm going to call you Machi. Anyway, he just never got over it, with you both being the last to get AI's and such."

Adianna's face turned the lightest of pinks. "Sir, my name is NOT Machi."

Asher shrugged. "To be frank, Sir, he shouldn't have slacked off in camp, if he wanted it that badly, sir."

"Humph. True enough." Bunny muttered, taking a deep drag off of his cigarette. Mack came back in, steering two boxes on a metal moving dolly to get them into the office.

"Sir, the Armor." He said, somewhat pissed and also sad. He sniffled as he moved back behind the desk.

"Thank you, Mack." Bunny said, exhaling a puff of white-gray smoke as he stood up slowly, jabbing his cigarette into the ash tray, snuffing out the cherry. It gave off a slight wisp of white smoke, and died. "This one here, labeled Female? This is Machi's, obviously." He tore into the box like it was a Christmas present and fished out the helmet, packing peanuts flying into the dusty floor. It was black, and when it caught the light right it flashed different colors, dark reds, deep violet, metallic blue and forest green. Asher whistled slightly and Mack craned his neck to try to get a better look. She took off her thin-rimmed glasses and placed them on the desk, and slid the helmet on with ease. The visor, though nothing was blinking on it due to the lack of power at the moment, had her glasses prescription built into it, so she didn't have to worry about not seeing. She had turned down the laser eye surgery. "Now." Bunny tapped the helmet as she slid it off, after she had allowed them all to ogle at it for a little while. "As you know, each Freelancer Agent like you and Adams here, and South and even Tex and Wyoming, have a special ability in the armor. South can make a shield around herself if she comes under fire. Tex turns invisible. Wyoming has a time loop. You, Agent Nebraska, can teleport small distances."

"Oooo." Adianna grinned as she clutched the helmet. Bunny turned to the next box and opened it, and once again fished around for something, packing peanuts once again piling on the hard-wood floor.

"You, Agent Montana," Bunny said tossing him a dark, dusty orange helmet. "Have the ability to make shields around other people and use that to make the bullets ricochet back at whoever is in the shield. Of course, if someone is shooting from the outside the shot gets absorbed. Inside, it gets shot back at you. You can shield an enemy and let them kill themselves and not have to waste any ammo.

Mack about turned green with blatant jealousy which seethed from him in a deep set glare, which was directed at the seemingly grinning Asher. Who, Adianna could tell, was actually gnashing his teeth together and was trying really hard not to launch himself upon the floor and clean up the packing peanuts and align the boxes. That wasn't to say, though, that he didn't care about the new armor, which he was clutching to his chest like a newborn child. He really liked the color orange, he had seine they had been very little. Asher shook himself a little, trying to fight the OCD spell he was under.

He failed. "Sir, if I may," he muttered and dropped to his hands and knees, passing his armor to Adianna. She had to readjust completely to be able to hold the two sets at once. Asher scooped up the peanuts, and, knowing that it would drive him completely crazy, refused to look into the top of the box as he threw them, all but gently, into the cardboard container. He pretended to stagger slightly, bumping into a box to make it on line with the other. Satisfied, he stepped back. "If I may, someone stepping on the peanuts… they could slip."

Bunny's expression was one that was slightly un-amused. Not that that was different from normal. "Montana, this is the Freelancer Headquarters, not a boy scout camp." Bunny suddenly coughed and looked over at Adianna. She raised her eyebrows as caught his gaze, passing Asher's armor back to him. "or girl scout camp. Whatever."

Adianna rolled her eyes and sighed irritably, a tone that crept into her voice as she spoke. "Really? Seriously?"

Bunny continued like she had never spoke. Mack snickered, covering his mouth with a thin hand as he did so. "General upkeep for these is a little different, because you have more systems that need to be checked, and an AI to look after. All backup drives need to… have to….be in working order in the event anything happens. Same goes for the Beacons that are set in the armor if you guys ever get hurt. Fair warning, Washington will probably be the one coming after you if that happens. Pray that it doesn't. Washington's a good guy, and a good medic, but its better just to stay out of harms way. For him, for the program, for the Director, and mostly yourselves. Seriously. Watch it. When the levels get low, get out." Bunny sighed as though his advice was heavy and meant a lot.

"Sir, Washington is a medic?" Mack asked suddenly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Bunny yelled at the tiny private, who flinched in automatic response. Bunny's cigarette fell out of his mouth and onto the desk, and his face went red from the yelling. "Well." He checked himself. "No. He has a healing unit in his armor. He picks up bacons when the Freelancers are in mortal danger, and he goes to either save them or get them to someone who can help. That's part of what Washington does." Bunny explained with a shrug. This was part of the reason Asher had become Freelancer over Mack-the-new-supply-officer-in-training.

"Alright, go put your Armor on, then head down to the Chambers. You know what is waiting for you there."

Adianna and Asher nodded grimly. They knew, and neither was really thrilled about it even if they had volunteered. They went into separate dressing rooms, and both got the same result with the armor. It fit like a charm, tailored exactly for them. Not too heavy, and not too flimsy. The internal parts of the armor kicked in, and Adianna watched as small icons flickered to life on the inside of the visor. Phi spoke suddenly, making her jump and gasp. She'd almost forgotten about him.

"So, this is the new Armor? I like the color."

"Jesus Phi! Thanks for scaring me!" She grumbled loudly, enough so that Asher heard him giggle through the speaker in his helmet. "And yes, it is. Glad you like the color."

Phi laughed slightly. "Yes. Well, that said, we should head to the Chambers. We have a long time ahead of us, Nebraska."

She sighed. "I know."

The trek to the chambers was slow, but not quiet. The four of them spoke all the way up the hall, getting used to the new armor.

The chambers was were Adianna and Asher would be joining another Freelancer, one without an AI. They were all being used in a new experiment by the Director of project freelancer. They had volunteered, no one else was going to. Rumor had it that they were going to be placed into chambers that would fill with liquid and then you would be put to sleep. This was all they had heard about.

"Okay. Here we are." Asher smiled reassuringly as he opened the door.

The room had black tile floors, stone walls, and various lights. In its own way, it was pretty. In the center stood three glass cylinders, which were connected to brass pipe work, which twisted up and up to were it was no longer visible.

The Director's voice came from a monitor, a deep southern drawl that Adianna had come accustomed to hearing but never seeing. "Hello, Adianna, Asher and Mark. May I call you by your first names?"

The trio shrugged and let him continue. He was the boss. It didn't really matter to them what he called them. It was what it was.

"You are about to become part of one of my newest experiments, and I can't thank you enough for so willingly volunteering to help out with it. When the time comes, I will come and get you from the chamber myself,. Have no fear that you will get left inside, for that's a not problem. For now, all I need you to worry about Is getting hooked up into those glass cylinders there. If its not too awkward for you all, I'm going to have to ask you to remove your armor."

It wasn't, and they did, stripping down to black shirts and pants with the freelancer insignia displayed carefully on the shoulder.

Adianna stepped inside, and from the speaker came the instructions as to where everything went. After about fifteen minutes, the door closed. Adianna began to panic as the liquid flooded in slowly, it was thick and goopy and cold.

"Shh, Adianna. Its only for a little while." Phi muttered, and then Adianna, Asher, and Mark were out like they had never been awake in the first place.

The darkest dark Adianna had ever experienced_._ The dark, like the end.


	2. Chapter 2: A Temporary Measure

Note: Wahh! I'm so sorry its been so long! The good news is that I got both of my stories updated today. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WRITING THAT WAS? It took all day! But it was worth it. Please enjoy chapter two of "What I Want!"

"_Adianna, you have to get up. Adianna. ADIANNA." A voice called as strong hands shook her into awareness. She leapt in surprise, pitching the hammock to the side violently. Someone called out her name and grasped her cool arms firmly and righted the hammock before she could be sent flying into the cool, morning-dew covered grass. _

"_Adianna, you really need to stop sleeping in that hammock." The man sighed. _

"_But I like it, Frank. Its cool outside and you can see all of the stars." _

"_I know you like it." Frank said, pulling her out of the hammock and walking her to the deck. She looked around as they walked. The early-morning sun was glinting off of the pond in a glorious display of sparkly ripples in the water. The dewy grass looked like it was covered in diamonds. Birds sang as they hung about the birdfeeder. This morning in the middle of the woods in Iowa was especially pretty, even when Adianna didn't think it should be. "But someday you're going to go to sleep thinking that it's a good night to star-gaze and then we're going to get a thunderstorm. And then guess what happens? You get pneumonia and DIE." _

"_I haven't met anyone that's died of that, actually." Adianna pointed out quickly. _

"_Of course not! They're all dead!" _

_Frank sat her down on the deck as she opened her mouth to retort and sneezed instead. "You see? Point proven." He laughed as she shook her head, trying to rid her nose of that irritating tingle of pre and post sneeze feeling. She sat up after ten seconds._

"_I don't want to you go." She announced, ever quietly, into the morning light. It was gone like a wisp on the wind, and his mouth twitched upwardly, though she couldn't tell if he was laughing at her or hiding his own sorrow. _

"_We both knew this was coming, Adianna." _

"_So what?" _

_He smiled softly, squeezing her shoulders gently in a hug. "Why don't you go get in the shower?" _

_For some unexplainable reason, Adianna gasped and jumped up, sitting bolt upright and eyes huge. "Frank!" She gasped again. "Where did Asher go last night?!" _

"_He moved inside." Frank shrugged, tapping her nose. "Like a smart little kid would do." _

"_I am smart, and I am not a little kid." _

"_Yeah okay, shorty, get in the shower." Frank smirked. And with that Adianna huffed in an irritated manor, stormed off into the house._

_In reality, she was only pretending to be offended. They both knew it. It was nothing more than a game to them, another part of the daily routine that had gone on for years. Adianna flung the door open, and stepped into the kitchen. Her mother and Asher were no were to be seen. They must have been packing the car already. Adianna executed an abrupt left flank and headed into the laundry room, out of which she grabbed a pair of pants and a well-fitting t-shirt. The glanced into the mirror as she entered the blue bathroom, and had to look closer to make sure she was staring at herself. Surely, there couldn't be a GIRL underneath all that mud? But her dark eyes let her know it was her, and with a chuckle she striped off her clothes, stepping into the shower and gradually easing the temperature up, She stopped when she reached for the shampoo and could see steam curling off her arms. She allowed her muscles to relax beneath the hot water, and she leaned against the tiled wall of the shower, thinking. Her thoughts fell to her brother. _

_Today was that day. He was leaving the house. Like everyone eventually must, she reminded herself. But that didn't mean she wanted her brother to leave. Who would help coach her softball team now? A small, choked whisper came from her._

_Half an hour later at the Bus stop, she stood with Asher who held her hand as a supportive gesture,, not in any sort of romantic way, while she called out and waved. Her mother had said goodbye and was already heading back to the car as Adianna continued to shout her various goodbyes at her brother. _

_The bus pulled out. _

_A small, choked whisper. "Don't go." _

CHAPTER TWO: A TEMPORARY MEASURE

There was very little to suspect anything was going on outside. At least, for the two that stood in the chambers silently, still like statues and as devoid of life as a ghost. The last time anyone had been down there had been when one of them really had died, which probably wasn't far from were they all were now.

A man pushed open the door to the Chamber Room. He didn't care for what he saw in front of him.

The room was clean, spotless, in fact, like an operating room. The air, though warm, smelled crisp. The tile floor was standard, and the walls were lit aglow with monitors and lights that indicated the status of the two in the Chambers. One third of the machines were dark. He guessed those had belonged to the one that had died. A few mechanical arms extended from the ceiling, like spider's legs waiting to snatch up its prey. The center of the room held three upright glass cylinders, and they hooked up to more machines. Black tubes hooked to holes in the glass, they themselves otherwise suspended in a thick liquid. He looked up at the two people left in the cylinders.

The first, a boy. He couldn't have been older than twenty. Just a kid, the man reminded himself. Just like he had been when he had come into the Freelancer Program. The boy had dark hair, and he was fit and well-toned, though the man wasn't sure how he and the other person in this godforsaken experiment had managed to stay in pristine physical condition like that.

A heart monitor blipped in anticipation as he rounded the corner. Some of the machines he needed to wake them up were beginning to turn on, the humming like some sort of welcome-home choir singing an ancient hymn

The girl he saw had a swath of blond hair, which had slid from its bun over the time she had been suspended in the liquid. It swirled around her ominously, slowly. Half her face covered by a breathing mask. She was proportioned well with lean musculature, her ivory skin showed a thin, barely visible lacework of scars on her left arm.

More machines clicked on, one heart monitor joined the other.

Did it bother him that the two were hooked up to so many wires and tubes? Did it bother him that they literally had been living dead -- frozen in time, neither awake nor asleep, for two years now?

He watched the boy stir, using his peripheral vision, the lines on his face creasing deeper into his strong features. The boy would be awake first.

His eyes slid open, and for a second the man was caught by the boy's eye-color. Bottle-blue. Startling. Probing. The boy seemed to be judging him right there, in the spot, as though he wasn't in a Chamber at all. The man pressed a button, slamming his hand onto the cold machinery, and the liquid drained. The Boy's bare feet touched the cool bottom of the cylinder lightly, gently, like pedals falling from a flower. The boy waited for the door to open and then removed his mask before he gently started removing the IV needles from his arms. The man was surprised that the boy was even standing. How could that be, after all this time? He had almost forgotten the two were down there, in the chamber. The boy said nothing as he pulled the long needles from his arms. Then turned back to the man, who found himself under the stare of those bottle-blue eyes. Intimidating, but not enough.

"My name is Lieutenant Harris" He extended a hand, which the boy shook roughly.

"Freelancer Agent Montana." The boy replied. "My AI is Theta, Cynicism."

The man suppressed a cringe for two reasons. One, he was sick of Freelancer code names. For some odd reason, he couldn't help but work with them and yet he couldn't stand the state-codenames-in-the-workspace thing. On Mission he understood it, but other then that not so much.

"How long has it been?" Agent Montana asked.

"Two years."

"That's quite a bit of time."

"Well, its actually more. There was a bit of an…. accident, sometime during your time in that chamber and we all got thrown into the future. I say we, but really most people are just descendants of that sped up time, no one really knows what happens but we all know it was really fast. Only a few people from the time the accident happened got into the new time, and continued to live natural lives. I am one of them, and the Director is another. You've been in here for almost two years after that accident. For all intensive purposes, we're calling it overall at two years. The Director recently decided to wake you up. He said its time to see just how well it works. He said enough is enough, after the death of Mark."

"Mark?" Montana's eyebrows shot up into his hair. "Mark died?"

Harris thrust a finger in the direction of the empty, dark tube. Then he indicated to the blank wall screens. "There is only so much a body can take before it just quits, Agent Montana." Harris said. "Some people are weaker and some stronger. Some factor gets overlooked, or who knows what. But Mark is most certainly dead."

"What about Adianna?" The concern that momentarily laced his features was obvious, and Harris took quick and quiet notice of this as Asher spoke.

This time Harris's eyes shot into his hair. "Adianna? She the girl in the other Chamber?"

Montana nodded yes. She was indeed.

"What, no codename for her, too?"

Harris regretted saying this sarcastic comment. For starters, he noticed the muscles in Montana's body clenched and he suddenly seemed much more defensive, and those bottle-blue eyes now possessed a glare so startling that Harris wanted to back up against a wall.

Somehow, he stood fast. "We're getting her up, too. She's done fine, so far as I know."

"Fantastic. So we loose one and only get two. And even then, it's the one who doesn't really like life." Theta snorted.

"Theta. Stop." Montana hushed quietly. "Don't you start anything right now."

Theta quieted down, though reluctantly.

"Well." Harris sighed, shifting his weight forward as Montana tried to wring his clothes out, which were saturated with the thick liquid he had been suspended in. Now that he thought about it, it smelled kind of odd, an order that had nothing to do with body and everything to do with that liquid. Harris wrinkled his nose a little bit in distaste.

They went to the girl's tank. To be honest, Harris knew she was younger than the boy by about a year. He guessed she was at about nineteen. As they approached, she too, stirred.

Inside the tank, Adianna was slowly regaining consciousness. In her mind, she was still breathing in that sweet Iowa air, at her Ranch. She was re-living her days as a child, and she liked it. Life had been so much more simple back then, when the pressures of being an adult meant nothing. But now something was pulling at her happy bubble of childhood like someone had found the drain plug and was pulling on the chain. She held onto that dream desperately, hovering somewhere between reality and that blissful dream. Wish a snap, the drain plug flew out and her eyes snapped open, the image she held in her mind shattering like a dropped china bowl.

She didn't like the way her vision was clouded, one by the liquid and two by her missing glasses. And what was with the tubes? She didn't like it. She wanted her dream back. She wanted it _back_. Or maybe THIS was the dream. A nightmare…?

She ripped out the needles and kicked at the glass tube. Her eyes were ablaze. She wanted out of the glass chamber like no other. In the back of her mind, a half-familiar voice buzzed in her thoughts. Phi was trying desperately trying to calm her down. He was failing miserably.

She kicked at the tube again and Asher gave Harris a shove, "Push the damn button!" she read off Asher's lips as Harris scrambled back upright and smacked a button on one of the beeping machines.

The liquid drained with lighting speed, and the door swung open.

Adianna stumbled out into the open, tearing off the mask and tripping her way into Asher. One of the IV cords had snapped and was dangling from her arm. She tore it out and let the tiny wound go as it bled from the rough ripping from her arm. Asher held her gently, standing her upright. She was still very small in comparison to him, and also stood far below Harris, who surveyed the situation at hand from a small distance.

"Adianna." Asher smiled. "You've got nothing to worry about. We're fine. You're safe. Calm down." A shiver passed though Asher as he spoke, and Adianna narrowed her eyes quizzically. She didn't believe him, Harris could see that. "Phi. What do you make of that?"

"Everything indicates that he is not speaking lies." Phi said softly. "No reason to worry."

Adianna relaxed a little. "And my name is not Adianna." She grinned widely, a sudden and very bright smile. Harris raised an eyebrow. Were these two dating? "Its Agent Nebraska."

Asher laughed, apparently this discussion had been on the table in the past.

Freelancers, Harris had realized over the past few years he had worked in the Project, were full of surprises. It was hard to predict the next move one might make, and part of that had to do with how they were trained. Sometimes, pairs would develop a strong relationship if they worked together long enough, as was common in any situation. But he had read the files of Adianna Lee Machiavelli and Asher Corey Adams, also known as Freelancer Agents Nebraska and Montana, though both had grown up in Iowa. He knew that Adianna had an elder brother and had lived with her mother. Asher lived with both parents and had two younger siblings. He also knew that these two had grown up together, gone to school together, and knew that they had been companions since they had been in grade school. Now, both were partners in the freelancer program, and had somehow managed to stay together. Harris was wondering again if the two were dating or engaged or something and that was why they had managed to stay together. But he was afraid to ask.

"Who, are you?" A new voice asked and a small figure appeared beside Asher. "You look like some kind of rodent. What do you want?"

"Theta. Not nice." Asher scolded the AI as though it was a living thing, like a child that needed instruction rather than some computer chip telling it what to do. If nothing else, that freaked Harris out, too, because a lot of the Freelancers got attached to the AI as though they actually existed.

"I don't really care if its not nice." Theta fired back. "What I care about Is making sure that we're not going to die or something."

"You're paranoid." Adianna yawned, shivering. "He's one of us. Working in the freelancer department. He got me checked in before I went off for Boot Camp."

Harris thought hard about that as all eyes fell on him. He didn't really remember. Too many faces, to many names, to many people being checked in and trying to make it into the program. Too many denied people, but he remembered most of the ones that got implants. Then again, these two had the final ones, and he'd switched jobs, and, after all, that was two years ago. "I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I don't remember you."

"Ehh, no problem." She blew it off as though it was nothing, twisting her hair to try and wring the goop out of it. "Lots of people, why would you remember me?" Shivering again, Asher began to speak for her.

"Also, new clothes and a shower would be nice. You said we've been in there for two years now."

"Ah, right." Harris nodded. "Follow me. Once you shower, the Director will call you on the intercom. He'll tell you what you need to know for your new assignments, and then you'll be off tomorrow morning. Normally, we'd give you plenty of time in advance to rest and prepare. Seeing as you've been asleep for two years, I don't think you really need to worry about resting all that much." He chuckled.

"There is food available in the small freezer. As you know, chow is not usually allowed in the bunks, but jut this once they're allowing a small freezer and a microwave to be available to you while you're in the bunks. This is a temporary measure. When you leave for whatever mission you are sent on. You will no longer have the freezer and bunks will once again go back into the no chow in the bunks rule again. Clear?"

"Yes, sir." The two answered simultaneously.

"Good. Now then." Harris said, stopping. They had, without realizing it, walked into the bright light of the hall, which (Adianna and Asher noticed) was leaving a burning sensation in there eyes after two years of sleep. The sharp sting of cleaning solvent seemed lodged permanently in there noses, and as they walked into the bunks the smell of spray-freshener was likely to kill them both until they adjusted to the scents of the world again.

"This is your bunk, and all of your personal belongings are in the foot lockers at the foot of the bed." Harris said, pointing to the boxes at the end of both cots, which were parallel to one another . On the wall was a projection screen, and then in the corner, on a makeshift counter was the microwave, and below it the freezer.

Adianna went straight for her box and pulled out a sweater with a small v-neck. Black, like her turtleneck, and complete with the insignia on the sleeve. She pulled out a set of black jeans and placed them on the cot. She then turned to Asher. "Are you showering first or am I?"

"I think I'll eat something." Asher said, inching closer to the mini-fridge. "You shower. Just don't take all the hot water, please." he paused. "I would like some for when I shower."

"You like the cold?"

"Yeah, not when I'm showering." Asher shivered at the thought. "I like warm showers. No different then how I don't like my hot chocolate when its cold. Hot chocolate means that it should be HOT. Just as hot showers mean that they should be HOT not COLD." Asher watched Adianna smirk as she watched him. Frustration came over him. "What is so funny?"

"You're starting to yell at me." She explained.

"I don't see how that's funny."

"You're yelling at me because of a shower."

Asher glared at her. "Just leave some hot water for me, dammit!"

Phi laughed lightly in the back of Adianna's mind. "Way to pick on the guy." He said in his usual boy-like manner.

Theta spoke up then, too. "There is nothing funny about what's going on here." Theta gave off his normal, -I don't like you- vibe. Adianna rolled her eyes as Asher began to mutter at him. She about faced and walked into the bathroom.

It was white tiles all the way up to the wall. The built in shower had one curtain that extended from wall to wall. The curtain was black, and on it was the freelancer symbol.

"Do we put our symbol on everything?" Adianna muttered as she walked to the mirror. It had been so long… she wanted to see what she looked like.

Besides damp, she almost jumped at what she saw.

… she was exactly the same.

She was more pale then she normally was, as she hadn't seen the sun in so long. Her hair was still the same length, the same straight-but-frizzy hard to manage stuff it always had been. The same shade of blond. Her eyes were still the same color, still held the same luster. Very little had changed about her, and very little (She had noticed, and after looking at herself in the mirror she wanted to slap herself for even thinking that she might look different if Asher was still exactly the same.)

Adianna began to peel off her damp, slimy clothes. She couldn't believe how had it was to get them off. The goop she had been in really made them stick. She yanked off the turtle neck and threw it into the laundry shoot with the trousers. She wasn't sure she was going to be getting them back, so she was happy she'd remembered not to stick anything in the pockets.

Even without the clothes, she noticed, she was exactly the same she had been. Same height, same weight. That gave her some relief as she stepped into the shower, turning the water on. She shivered as the water came out cold, waiting for it to warm up.

Then she began the task of trying to get the goop out of her hair. It took three shampoos before she was sure it was completely gone. Then she soaked her hair in conditioner and washed all the slime from her body. Rinse, and then out of the shower. Half an hour, maybe, she guessed was how long she'd been in. There was still hot water, she reminded herself with satisfaction. With luck it would run out in the middle of Asher's shower. That would really make him mad.

She opened what looked like a small closet. Inside hung more of the same clothes she had been wearing before, but instead of turtle necks there was a small one with a v-neck on it and a bigger one with a normal collar. She grabbed the v-neck and pulled it on over a pair of jeans and stepped into the big room.

There was a box sitting on her bunk. One was on Asher's bunk, too, but he was too busy eating still to really care about getting into it at the moment. Adianna pointed at the box.

"What is in the boxes?" She asked.

"Our Armor. And you were in that shower for almost an hour, missy! There had better be hot water left!" Asher scolded her as if he was talking to a small child. She rolled her eyes. She hadn't listened to her mother when she was growing up, and she wasn't about to listen to Asher whom she and her brother had grown up with . No way no how. Adianna headed to her bunk and opened the box.

The armor was still like it had been. Shiny, new, and all around awesome. With a grin she put it aside as her stomach growled. Food first, then the armor. Phi hummed excitedly about the Armor as she went to the fridge, grabbing a bag of frozen chimichangas and throwing two of them into the microwave.

Three minutes later, and she was wolfing down lunch, after she had added some Sour Cream, Lettuce, Tomato, and cheese. Microwavable perfection. She happily took another bite as Asher stormed from the bathroom. She looked at the clock. It had been about ten minutes. Knowing immediately what had happened, Adianna tried to act innocent.

"What happened? Are you trying to prove that you can shower faster than I do? Because that really doesn't normally happen, and I had to get all the nasty sludge out of my hair." She smiled. "But the conditioner was awesome. Now my hair's all soft and pretty."

Asher, knowing that Adianna really didn't care about conditioner, proceded to ignore her comments and got straight to the point. "I was washing my hair. And. The. Water. Went. Cold."

Adianna mock-gasped at Asher.

"I am so sorry. Did you get it all out?"

"Yes, I got it out!" Asher snapped. "But seriously, Adianna! I was all nice and warm and was getting all nice and clean and then the water got all icky cold, and I had to finish my shower in the icky cold water and just…. IT WAS COLD, ADIANNA!" Asher yelled.

Adianna chuckled as Asher continued to rant about the cold water, finishing the last of her lunch. She cleared the paper plate into the trash and then turned back to Asher, suddenly serious.

"If the Armor is here, I think we should put it on." She said, pointing to the box. "We've got a meeting with the Director here soon, which means he's going to want to see us ready to go."

Theta even backed Adianna up on this one, and reluctantly Asher agreed, going to get his own set of dusty orange armor. Adianna grabbed her metallic color-changing set and pulled it on, getting the many parts into place. It fit snugly. She tucked the visor off and placed it beneath her arm. Asher followed suit. She was still surprised by how much the orange armor brought out the blue in his eyes. She smiled as the wall-screen flickered to life, and a silhouette appeared. Sheesh, what was with the director and being so secretive? They had seen him in person a few times, more than some of the other Freelancers had, but it still bugged the both of them.

There was only a second's pause before they were greeted by warmly by the Director. "Asher! Adianna! It really has been too long."

"Sir, you had us in tanks for the past few years. Its been awhile." Asher was quick to point out.

"I realize that I may have kept you in there for too long, and I do apologize. Please try to understand that due to circumstances lately that are beyond my control I had to extend the duration of the experiment."

"It doesn't matter, Sir." Adianna said softly. Asher raised an eyebrow at her. "What is done is done, we're going to have to make the best of it right now. We can catch up on what history we missed later."

"This is why I've always liked you, Miss Machiavelli. You've always been quite reasonable." The Director paused. "Asher, you've always been there to balance her out. Together, you two will make a fine team, as your friendship is part of the reason I have picked you to be in this program."

"Thank you, sir." Both Freelancers replied, staring at the silhouette on the wall.

"To start with though, I believe your first real mission should be something easy, something you both can handle so that I can get an assessment on how well you work together. Are the two of you aware of Blood Gulch?"

"The simulation box canyon, were you sent two teams and pitted them against one another to get an accurate assessment of how Solder's react in new situations. Right. What of it?" Adianna asked.

The canyon popped up in the corner of the screen, and listed the people that could be found in both Bases.

"We're going to send you there, to test. Now, don't think this is going to be easy. There have been some… incidents recently that keep bringing the base to our attention. We'd like you to go out there and monitor the situation for awhile. Just until things calm down and everything go back to normal with them." The Director seemed like he was almost asking if they would do it, but they knew they had no choice in that matter. Well, not unless they wanted to get court-marshaled and then fired. And the two of them quite liked having a paycheck, so they weren't about to argue.

"We accept, Director, Sir." Asher said.

"Good. I am grateful that the two of you are always so willing to do as I ask of you. Some of the other Freelancers would refuse to do something of this nature."

"We're the new guys." Asher shrugged. "I don't think we really have any room to be picking out the missions that we want to go on right now."

"We don't have enough experience to be doing that, anyway. We could get in way over out heads, I'm sure." Adianna added.

The Director sat back in his seat. "That's very good." was all he said.

"We were raised weird, we know." Adianna laughed. "Asher practically lived at my house.

"Only because you begged me to come over."

"_Frank _begged you to come over, not me, get your memories straight, Asher." Adianna retorted with a laugh.

"The ship that will take you there to Blood Gulch will be here by the time to reach the docking bay. You will be taken there after a short stop to sidewinder to drop off some other recruits. After that, you will be taken straight away to your destination."

"Just like ridin' the school bus." Asher whispered to Adianna. She suppressed a chuckle.

"Now then, Harris will show you to the hanger deck, and then the two of you will be on your way. Each of you have been given a set of luggage and some provisions. The few personal belongings you had have been placed with them. Now then, have a good trip." The Director said, and then the screen died out.

"Meeting. End." Adianna said, her tone low and almost gravely. Asher smiled and then opened the door, holding it for her as she stepped outside. She thanked him quietly and then almost bumped into Harris.

"Hello, Harris." the duo greeted him simultaneously.

"I have a very serious question for the two of you." He said.

Asher and Adianna cocked their heads to the side. "What?"

"Are the two of you involved… romantically?"

There was a moments pause. Asher and Adianna stared at him, then looked at one another. In the next second they were on the floor laughing.

If this had been an anime, there would have been a giant sweat drop on Harris' head.


	3. Chapter 3: Vague Isn’t A Problem

Wow, here we are at Chapter Three! I'm happy to announce that the update on this was really fast for me... less than three weeks. (SING, DANCE, EXCITEMENT) A quick thank you to all the people who put this on a favorite list, and a thank you to Concealed Eminence for sticking about seince the idea for this first came to me. Now then, lets get on with the story, shall we?

* * *

_"Frank! Wait up!" A girl called. She wasn't very old, perhaps five, and was trailing after her elder brother. _

_He smiled warmly, pushing blond hair from his eyes. He knew it was getting too long but for the moment didn't care as he turned and waited for his sister, her brown eyes big and round as she ran up to him, panting. "Adianna, I thought you wanted to stay home." _

_The little girl looked displeased. She was wearing a set of overalls that were torn in the knee, her favorite pair, and a white tee-shit beneath it. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders. Her eyes were big and brown. "Mama said you were going to the park! You didn't tell me that!" "Maybe I didn't want you coming along." Frank said casually, but was startled by the sudden look of hurt that entered his sister's eyes. _

_"Oh." Was all she said, hanging her head. _

_Frank and Adianna were very close. The two spent hours playing together and never seriously fought. It was the dream relationship every parent wanted their children to have. For Adianna and Frank, that came easily, effortlessly. Adianna admired her elder brother and Frank liked having her around, and though his mother told him that someday that might change, he didn't believe her. They would always be playing pretend games and going on hikes in the woods to find things to bring home Mama whenever they wanted. Nothing would ever change. This is how it was, and how it had always been. _

_So as Adianna began to cry, Frank really was at a loss. He stared for a second and then placed a hand on her small, shaking shoulder. _

_"Hey." He said softly. _

_There was a sniffling nose. "What?" _

_Frank dug into the pocket of his pants and pulled out two dollars, and showed it to his puffy-eyed sister. "Look at this. This what's left of the money I got for my birthday." _

_Adianna stared at the money with those big eyes of hers. Frank was amazed that she didn't get more compliments on them. "I thought you got everything you wanted, Frank. What are you gunna do with that at the park?" _

_"I'll show you." Frank smiled. "It was going to be a surprise, but then you just had to follow me, huh? C'mon, I'll take you." He smiled and she held his hand, still a little puffy-eyed and still sniffling a little, all the way to the park that warm summer afternoon. _

_The park was little, very little. Just a couple swings, a monkey bar set, and a single jungle gym. There were some huge tires set into the ground to climb on, and gravel was scattered all over the playground area. _

_There at the road was a small ice-cream and popsicle vendor, and Adianna pointed with excitement. "Frank, Look!" _

_"That's why I didn't want you to come. I was going to bring you back some ice cream." He smiled. _

_Adianna looked up at him, her eyes even bigger with shock. And then on her face he could plainly read her as she realized what she had done and felt bad about it. _

_"Hey now." Frank said soothingly. "All this means is that you get the kind you want and I don't accidentally get you the wrong thing." He smiled cheerfully at her. _

_Adianna remained silent as Frank took her to the vendor. She got a single vanilla scoop of ice cream and then sat down on the swing. Frank joined a second later with his, a single strawberry scoop. _

_As the duo finished, Adianna turned to her brother. "Hey, Frank?" _

_"Hey what."_

_"Lets have a swinging contest!" She said excitedly. Frank agreed, and the contest began. The two had done this before. The rules of this game where as follows; You would swing as high as you wanted, and then you would jump off. Whoever jumped the farthest won! Frank, who was a little braver than Adianna, usually one. That didn't discourage Adianna from asking for a contest every time they were at the park. _

_Behind them, and they were unaware of it, a pair of bottle-blue eyes watched them from the Gym. He'd just moved to the area, and he didn't know anyone else around here. In fact, these two had been the first children he had seen, and he'd been at the park for almost an hour. Curiously, he watched them as the contest began. _

_The boy leapt off and landed nimbly. Smiling triumphantly, he took off his shoes to mark his spot and then backed away, barefoot, calling something up to the little girl in overalls who was still swinging. Then the little girl took her leap…_

_And landed on her foot wrong. She cried out as she twisted painfully, falling to the earth, her body crumpling into a heap. The boy dashed from his hiding spot. She was crying when he knelt down by her and her brother. _

_"The good news is, is that you won! Oh, please don't cry." The brother said, he was stroking her hair and talking to her, trying to stop her tears. _

_"Are you okay?" The boy said, leaning in to look._

_"I think I broke my ankle." The sister cried. The brother looked ready to cry along with her. _

_"Its probably just twisted." The boy smiled reassuringly. "Here, I'll help you get home to your Mom." the boy said, helping the brother carry the sniffling little girl. _

_"Thanks. What's your name? I'm Frank." The boy said politely. _

_The boy looked down at the sister, who had moved her blond hair out of her face and was staring at him expectantly. _

_"My name is Asher." _

CHAPTER THREE: VAGUE ISN'T A PROBLEM

"Adianna." Asher said, tapping her shoulder. They were trailing behind Harris now, walking to the hanger deck so they could get on the transport and head to the first real mission that they had been given as Freelancers. Phi and Theta were both quiet for the moment, and had been. Silently Adianna wondered if they had managed to find the magic off button for the two Artificial Intelligences.

"I heard that." Phi muttered. Adianna cracked a small smiled.

"Adianna." Asher repeated himself, tapping her shoulder once more. He looked down at her as she looked up, still half in a daze.

"What?" She said. Even to her, her reaction was slow and her voice a little thick. She'd allowed herself to become too distracted.

"What are you thinking about, Nebraska?" Asher asked with a curios half smile.

"I was thinking about when we first met, way back in the day" She chuckled. "... Harris' question made me think about it for some reason."

Asher's smile grew at the memory. "That is way back." He grinned, speaking quietly, crossing his arms in front of his armored chest as he thought about it for a second, remembering. "You thought you broke your ankle."

"It felt like it. I was five. Leave me alone." Adianna laughed. Harris looked back at them, and she could tell he was a little flustered from what had happened in the hallway.

"I cannot believe he thought that we were dating. That's almost too good for words." Asher snickered. "You're my best friend but I would never, ever, date you."

"Thanks, Montana. Real help. You're just boosting my self-esteem right through the roof." Adianna said sarcastically, using his Freelancer state code-name thing. She knew that what he was saying was completely true, though, and the feeling was mutual. She'd never been romantically interested in Asher and Asher had never been romantically interested in her. The one time they had kissed did not count. She had been all of seven years old and a girl triple-dog-dared them to do it at a birthday party. One of those old elementary school things. It meant nothing back then, and to this day meant nothing. In fact, it was something that Asher rarely brought up. Adianna didn't bring it up much, either, but her brother had been sure to bring it up every chance he got. It was like a bad joke now. Her brother would bring it up and laugh like it was the first time he'd heard it, and Asher and Adianna would roll their eyes and go back to whatever it was that they had been doing before Frank had decided to butt in and remind them of that.

"Well, its not like I'm telling you that you're ugly to your face." He shrugged.

"And there it goes. My self-esteem. Right down the drain." Adianna sighed and then continued her walk behind Harris. She pointed at a spot on the ground and stepped on it. "See? That was them. Gone now. Squished. Forever dead like a little bug."

"Someone's feeling melodramatic today." Theta scoffed. "Are people always annoying?"

"Are you always a pain in the ass?" Adianna fired back, not even a second after he had spoken.

"Everyone play nicely." Phi and Asher said at the same time. Phi directing it at Adianna and Asher at Theta.

Adianna sighed, rubbing her temple. She was ready to get going. "Harris." she called. The man turned back to look at the young freelancer, slowing down for a moment.

"Yes, Agent Nebraska?"

"How far is the flight deck from here?"

"Not too much farther. We're going to be there in about a minute." Harris replied. He raised an eyebrow at the girl's expression. "Do you have a headache?"

"I'm working on getting one, yeah." Adianna said. "Its nothing out of the ordinary, really. I'll be okay." She smiled reassuringly as Harris's face took on a hint of worry.

Things fell silent for a minute, and Adianna and Asher greeted the silence warmly.

The banners on the wall held the Freelancer insignia, and there were many plaques that showed named of Freelancers who had done special things and memorials to the ones they had lost. There was even a list, and Adianna noticed and both her name and Asher's name had been placed on it, of the Freelancers that had qualified and were carrying AI's. She smiled at that a little. The walls were white, and the florescent lighting seemed to bleach the colors out of everything a little, but it all looked clean. The floor was a white tile and the sound of their boots, (All three pairs of them) echoed off the white walls and resonated around her, Asher, and Harris as they walked. Asher was running his fingertips along the wall as they went, feeling the texture with his fingertips.

Harris led the pair though a large, steal door. "Its steal so that if we have to suddenly lock it down, we'll have more protection. It seals when it shuts, too." He said as he punched the code into the keypad b y the door. Adianna was sure that Harris knew that the two really didn't care about the fact that the door was steal and was saying it just to break the silence. The door slid open and they went into the hanger deck. Harris didn't wait for them to look around and sight see, though they did notice several large ships both under construction, and in repair.

"We just finished fixing this one." Harris said, nodding at the crew as they left the ship to go work on something else. "It should fly beautifully now."

"What was wrong with it?" Theta asked.

"Nothing, really." Harris shrugged at the small AI. "There was a failure with some of the gauges, but there wasn't a real problem with any of the actual systems. We checked, they all run fine. Oh, and one of the engines needed to be cleaned up a little. We ran a full diagnostic on the ship, other than that it was fine."

"So this ship isn't going to kill us?" Theta said.

Harris sighed. "No, the ship is not going to kill you, Theta."

"Phi!" Theta called. The boyish AI showed up upon his name being called by the other AI. "What do you make of that?"

"Theta, you're paranoid. Everything is fine." Phi said and then disappeared again, not really feeling up to projecting himself outside the body at that particular moment in time.

Theta mumbled something about people in general and then faded away, quieting as he did so.

Adianna shook her head, her bun pulling on the hairs of the nape of her neck with little pricks of pain. She reached back and moved one of the bobby pins to the front of her hair, careful not to pull any of the strands loose as she did do. She turned toward Asher, who was watching the Ordnance and Maintenance workers on the hanger deck absently. "How do you stand him all the time. Theta." She asked.

Asher snapped back to awareness and looked down at his short, blond friend. "He's not so bad." Asher smiled and then looked off again.

"I'll be right back, you two stay here." Harris said suddenly. "I need to find the three that are going to Sidewinder so we can hurry up and get this show on the road." He about-faced and then walked away, leaving the pair of Freelancer's alone by the ship they would take to the box canyon.

Adianna walked in front of Asher. He was looking over and past her, but his eyes were unfocused, like he was asleep. He was thinking about something. Adianna knocked on hiss chest with her fist like someone would a door, and she wasn't particularly nice or gentle about it.

Asher made a small "Oof," and blinked, his eyes adjusting so he could look at Adianna clearly. "What was that for?"

"When you think like that, you tune me out. Calling your name would have gotten me nowhere, really quickly." She stated simply, shrugging.

Asher had a hard time containing his smile. "it's a man-habit." He grinned, the smile breaking free. "We tune out you nagging women so that we can get something productive done."

"Like what, watch football?" Adianna scoffed.

"Hey now, who got all intense over the bad calls the Referees made at the last Super Bowl party we went too? It certainly was not me, little miss." Asher couldn't help but bring that up. Adianna had stood up and yelled at the T.V screen, so completely pissed off about the call that had been made that her entire face was flushed. She even managed to knock over a soda on her way up from her sitting position.

"Don't you judge me." Adianna laughed. Her expression suddenly changed and she put a hand on her hip. She raised an eyebrow at Asher questioningly. "Asher. What's bothering you? You don't ever go off into a daze like that until you've got something to think about."

Asher sighed. He'd forgotten how well Adianna could read him. She'd been able to for a long time, as long as he could remember. Frank had been getting good at it, but not nearly as good as Adianna was and had been. His eyes met her. He had to be honest or Phi would tell her that he was lying. It wasn't even worth lying about, he told himself. It was true -- it was trivial to lie about it. "We've been friends for a long time, Adianna." He said. "And that time has gone by us so quickly. I wonder how much longer we have, really. We're in a dangerous spot here in the Freelancer program."

"Asher, we're going to be fine. it's a simulation canyon, we can't get hurt." She laughed. "These guys probably don't even get real ammunition. And for later missions, we have all the training we need. Forget living and dieing, that doesn't matter. We've got no one to blame for that but us, we brought it on ourselves. We'll be okay."

Asher half-smiled. She was right, of course. He was freaking out over nothing. They both did it and both managed to get each other calmed back down fairly easily. Asher was thinking too much again. But he looked at Adianna, and he could still see the little girl he'd met so long ago. He remembered the scars on her left arm and how she'd gotten them.

"Your scars…" his voice trailed off.

"Asher, you're really not making a lot of since today. Speak the normal language, okay?" Adianna sighed. "I don't know what's bothering you, but once we get into the ship my advice is to take a nap. A long one. But not another super long one like the one we just had. I wonder if you can sleep yourself to death and if we sleep to much today if we'll die…?" Her voice trailed off thoughtfully. Asher laughed. Neither of them were making since today.

Nerves from a mission. Nerves from an experiment. Adianna was almost sure she still had sludge in her hair and Asher was positive that he still had Goosebumps from that cold shower. Those, at least, were completely not his fault and he fully intended to get back at her for that little stunt.

Harris walked back up with three young men following behind. Each of them had helmets under their arms. The first was a Latino youth who looked like he might still be in High School. One of throes, "I always look three years under my real age" people. His short black hair stuck up defiantly on top of his head. Harris introduced him as "Private Garcia"

The second was a burly black man with corn rolls across his head. He looked like he had probably been on a varsity football team in high school. Adianna felt very small in comparison to him. Asher was about his height, but the man was at least twice as wide. He had, Asher noticed, a very friendly aura about him, though. Not in the least bit hostile. Harris called the man "Private First Class Mitchells"

The last and final one was a very tall, very skinny almost anorexic looking guy who had flyaway hair and thick rimmed glasses. He also had, in Adianna's opinion, a very hungry look about him, She wondered if he had eaten anything recently, he looked like he was going to be sick right there. His eyes were bright, but wild. Harris acknowledged him as being "Private Fisher"

"These are Freelancer Agents Montana," Harris said, nodding in the direction of Asher.

"Hey." Asher waved, and then shook hands with the three, a formality that he and Adianna were both used to by now in the Military.

"And the little one here," Harris said, grinning as Adianna shot him a quick glare. "Is Agent Nebraska."

"Nice to meet you," The three greeted her as they shook her hands. The tall one, she decided, was a little on the creepy side. She was sure to mention something about that to Asher and see what he, Theta, and Phi had to say about this.

Adianna suddenly remembered the AI's. "This is Phi," she said as the small boy-like AI appeared beside her, also waving. "He is the Intuitive AI."

"This is Theta." Asher said, following her lead. Theta popped up momentarily and then left again. "He's the Cynicism AI, so don't take it personally if I'm a little grumpy."

Asher smiled but gritted his teeth. Adianna could almost hear Theta talking angrily to him. She wondered why they didn't just call Theta the AI of "Teenage Angst." It almost seemed to suit him better then Cynicism did.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, we need to get going. The quicker you get to your destinations the less trouble I'll be in." Harris led them to the hatch and had them climb into the ship, one by one.

Asher looked around the ship. He seldom paid any attention to them and slept during the handful of rides he'd been on, but this one for some reason caught his attention. Adianna bumped into him on accident as he looked around.

"Asher, are you not feeling well today?" Adianna asked as she peered up at him from below his shoulder.

"I'm looking at the ship." Asher replied. Adianna looked around him to peer at the inside of the ship. There was more things in this one then others she had been on/ The seats seemed a little more comfy and it seemed a little more inviting then other ships, but she didn't really care.

"Asher. This is meant for extended trips." Adianna sighed. "Which means there's a bed. Which means you should sleep." She patted his back and gently pushed Asher in. Asher allowed this and sat down in a seat in front of where the three going to Sidewinder were sitting. Asher felt like his thoughts were lagging. His head was pounding. Sleep sounded really, really good. He looked up as Adianna flopped into the seat beside him. She seemed a little more awake, but not by much. "How is it," She started. "That we've been asleep for so long, we got up a few hours ago, and I already feel exhausted."

"Its called a side-effect." Harris spoke as he made his way to the cockpit. "When you sleep too much you continue to feel tired, which is what has happened here. Try not to sleep, it should pass within the hour." He smiled confidently at them and then walked away, the three Sidewinder-bound people taking seats behind them.

Adianna and Asher listened quietly to what was being said by the three. It wasn't anything of particular interest. Family at home. Letters from friends. Apprehensions about going to Sidewinder. Goals after the military. General, small-talk stuff.

Asher smiled at some of what was being said and Adianna turned to him. "Its not nice to eves-drop, Asher." She said sternly, but it was quiet enough that only Asher could hear her as she spoke. He turned to her.

"Mind your own business, Adianna." He grinned.

Adianna scoffed. "I don't have to do anything you tell me to do. You're not the boss of me."

"I know what you are, but what am I?"

Adianna stared at him for a second before asking "What are we, in kindergarten again? Really, Asher?"

There was a pause, and then Asher stuck his tongue out at the blond girl. "Yes!"

"I hate you." She rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, arms crossed. Asher laughed loudly, knowing she wasn't really mad at him. "Adianna, you are such a drama-maker, you know that?"

Adianna noticed that it was quiet behind them. In retaliation she reached over and smacked the dusty-orange clad person beside her in the chest. In retaliation, he coughed.

Mitchells, who sat in the middle of the row behind them, leaned forward to talk to the Freelancers. Garcia and Fisher looked skeptically at him as he did so.

"Excuse me, you two." He said. His tone was friendly, and a little curious. Both Asher and Adianna fixed their eyes on the man. "Are the two of you dating?"

Asher began to laugh and Adianna stared for a moment. "WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK THAT ALL OF A SUDDEN?!" She yelped, her face turning the lightest of pinks before she too, erupted into laugher.

Asher composed himself enough to speak. "Sorry… that's the second time today." He pointed at Harris who had come back to see what the noise was. "He asked the same thing on our way here."

Harris stifled his laughter as he realized what was being spoken about.

"We're not dating." Asher explained. "We're best friends."

"Oh." The three replied.

"Everyone." Harris said, his tone commanding. They all looked up at him, all laughter silenced. "We're going to me moving into a take-off position soon. Stay in your seats for a little while. I'll tell you when you can move. Don't worry, though, it won't be long."

The five of them responded with a "Yes, Sir." as Harris went back into the cockpit. They listened as the ship started up and they felt it begin to move.

"Well, here we go." Fisher said.

"No turning back now, I guess." Garcia shrugged.

"What are we going to do on Sidewinder, anyway?" Fisher asked, turning to Garcia.

"We're replacing some lost soldiers." Mitchells shrugged.

"That's not what I mean." Fisher said. He sounded almost frustrated as he leaned toward Mitchells, his hungry demeanor becoming more apparent as he did so. "I mean, why are we going to an Ice-Planet? What is out there that the enemy could want?"

"It doesn't matter." Mitchells shook his corn-rolled head. "What matters in that we have orders and that we follow them. Anything else is a detail and can be figured out later."

Adianna silently agreed as the conversation behind them carried on.

The listened to the ship as the thrusters went on and felt it as it entered the air. Harris was the pilot, and he was taking them to Sidewinder.

"I think," Adianna said. "I'll stay in the ship when we go to Sidewinder."

"Well, that's a good thing. Because otherwise your butt is getting left on that ice-ball."

She narrowed her dark eyes at Asher, who grinned playfully. She could have sworn that the boy was never in a foul mood. Ever. "I mean, even if Harris gives us a chance to get up and go outside before we leave for the Canyon." She shook her head. "I think I'll freeze if I go out there. And die."

"The armor will keep you warm, Adianna."

"So what? That doesn't make it any less cold outside."

"You won't feel it, though!"

"… I still think I'm going to stay inside."

Asher shrugged. "Suit yourself, I'll go have a snowball fight and it'll be awesome. And you'll miss out on it because you suck and can't handle a little bit of the cold. Too bad its so much fun, It makes me feel bad for you…"

"Asher, I hate you."

"That's a lie." She glared in response.

Asher shrugged. "Suit yourself." He smiled. "Hey, did you read the list of the people that are going to be at Blood Gulch? The people on the teams?"

"Uhm, no." Adianna said thoughtfully. "I think I glanced at the roster when we spoke with the Director, but I didn't really read anything. We probably should have done that. Oh well, looks like good old-fashion introductions are in order once we get there, I guess."

"Yeah, we probably should have looked at it." Asher sighed, slightly irritated with himself for not planning ahead. He glanced around the ship. If there was one thing he liked about them, it was that they generally were in nice, neat order so it didn't bother him too much. Adianna had been trying for a long time to calm down his OCD (Mostly because every time he set foot him her room back in Iowa, he would feel compelled to clean it. Or he would try and flatten her flyaway hair.)

Theta spoke then. "You know, planning ahead would have been nice." He said.

"Thank you Theta. I know." He shook his head to quiet the AI. Theta and Asher were still butting heads, in a weird sort of way. Asher sighed. He could only hope that one day it would calm down.

He looked at Adianna, who was zoning out in the seat beside him. He knew the facial expression when she wore when she spaced out like this, she'd done it almost as long as he had known her. She would stare out a window, at a wall, and just think. He used to have to call her name a few times before she would blink and look at him, and then another second would pass before her eyes would focus, and then she would say, "Oh, I'm sorry Asher!" or whoever was calling her name, "I must have spaced out. What's up?" He smiled at the memories.

She blinked and pulled herself back into awareness. "I'm starting to feel a little more awake." She yawned.

"Which is why you spaced off." Asher chuckled, his hand patting her shoulder.

"Eh, well, that's irrelevant." Adianna said quickly.

Harris' voice came on over an intercom. Just like on a commercial air liner, he told them they were free to move and use the restrooms or fix themselves something to eat. Adianna stood and decided to make something warm to drink. She discovered some hot chocolate packages and a few cups, made some for herself and Asher, and then headed back.

She handed the warm liquid to Asher, who graciously accepted.

"You know, Adianna." he said. The other three had gone off somewhere and it was just the two of them as they sat and talked, voices back up to a normal level. "The Director is really expecting a lot from us."

"He expects the same from all the Freelancers within the program, not just us." She said, her eyes downcast at the cup in her hands.

"We were part of that experiment though. Its like… I don't know." Asher sighed, aggravated. "Its hard to explain. But I feel like something it being planned for us."

"Well, then we wait and see what it is." Adianna sighed, sipping at her hot chocolate. She made a face as it scalded her mouth. "Its like Mitchells said. We have an order and we have to carry those orders out. The rest is details."

"Our orders were kind of vague, though."

Adianna grinned widely. "We're Freelancers. Vague isn't a problem."


	4. Chapter 4: Looking Well

I am sorry this took so long to get up. I got really, really busy...  
Thanks for reading, I won't keep bothering you. :D So here we go, Chapter Four!!!

* * *

"_Mama, Mama look! Its snowing!" A young girl said happily as she darted through the house, hopping on one foot as she tried to pull on a boot. _

"_Adianna Lee, Don't run through the house with those boots on!" Her mother called back in a stern voice. "We just cleaned the carpets!" _

"_Yes Mama, sorry Mama!" Adianna called as she pulled her boot on the rest of the way, but didn't slow down as she ran to get her brother up and out of bed. Her mother rolled her eyes at the girl as she darted through the kitchen and into the hallway, turning back to the dishes and deciding to let it go for now. The boys needed to get up as it was, anyway. _

"_Frank! Frank!" She called as she opened the door, entering the dark room. "Asher!" She decided to yell at him, too. He had stayed the night and the two of them should have known better than to stay up all night before a good snow. There was playing and fun to be had! Sleeping in was not an option this weekend now that the frosty hand of winter had descended upon the Iowan landscape. "Get up, get up!" _

_She leapt over where Asher was curled in a sleeping bag on the floor and pounced on Frank, tugging at this blankets and pushing on his shoulder, giggling all the while. "Up up, up up UP!" _

"_Adianna, its cold." Frank said, tugging hard at the blankets to pull them back up over his blond head. "Go away." _

"_No, Frank!" Adianna said gleefully. "Its snowing! You have to get up and come play with me now, you love the snow!" _

"_Not enough to forgo sleep." Frank snorted, and in his sleepy daze he pulled at the blankets again, trying to work them out of Adianna's grasp. He pulled to hard and she fell off his bed with a small shriek, toppling over onto Asher who had, somehow, slept though Adianna's crusade into the bedroom. _

"_Owe." Asher said. _

"_I'm sorry, Asher! Frank pushed me!" _

"_Its okay." Asher said, sitting up as the girl moved to sit on the floor next to him. "What do you need, Adianna? Isn't it a little early for you to be up and dressed?" _

"_Of course not." Adianna replied. "Its almost noon. You two sleep too much." _

_Asher blinked, surprised, and looked at his watch while Adianna continued. "Besides, how could you sleep on a day like this? Its snowing, and snowing a lot. It is sticking, too, so we should go play. Frank doesn't want to get up, though, and he's being a meanie and pushed me." _

"_Knowing Frank, I'd say he didn't mean to push you." Asher brushed some of his dark hair from his eyes. "But then, also knowing you, you probably shouldn't have jumped on him, am I right?" _

_Adianna's face turned pink. "…Yeah. I guess so." _

_Asher ruffled the girl's hair. "Good girl. Now, I'll tell you what. I'll go play with you, and while we're out there we can build a snow fort. When Frank gets up he'll ask your Mama where we went, and she'll tell him. So when he comes back out, for revenge, we'll attack him with snowballs!" The dark haired boy smiled and the blond girl mimicked this smile, and she left while he dressed, running outside into the snow. _

_She looked up into the sky and marveled at how the snowflakes fell from the gray abyss above her that was the clouds. She didn't wonder long, though, she had a fort to build. She gathered snow and packed it around, making a wall. _

_Asher came out a moment later, all jacket and boots, hat and mittens. He got down beside her and reinforced the wall. When it was finished, it was low enough that Adianna could still look over it and throw the snowballs, but tall enough that neither of them had issues launching the snowballs. They shot at one of the bushes by the house for practice while they waited for Frank. When the door opened, they ducked behind the wall, and waited, chuckling. _

_Frank called out to them. "Oh, gee, I wonder what that wall of snow it doing there?" _

_Adianna popped up then. "This is for pushing me, jerk!" And lopped snowballs at him, Asher joining her a second later. _

_By the time it was all said and done, each of them was covered in snow, it was sticking to them from it getting thrown and slipping and falling in the snow. _

_They sat on the porch with hot-chocolate about an hour later. _

"_Adianna, did you know each snowflake is different? No two are alike." Asher said as he sipped his chocolate, his words creating little clouds of steam as he spoke. _

"_Really?" _

"_Yeah, we learned that in school last week." Frank said. _

"_Why?" _

"_No one knows why." Asher shrugged. "Its just the way things are made, I guess, like how no two people are exactly the same. Not even identical twins." _

_Frank nodded as Adianna looked over at him. _

"_So… if all the snowflakes are different, does that mean its going to be different every time we play in the snow?" _

_Asher and Frank smiled. "Every day is different. But the fun will always be the same if we're all playing together."_

CHAPTER FOUR: Looking Well

Adianna jolted into awareness, her head sliding off of Asher's shoulder as she sat up in her seat. Phi whispered quietly too her. "We're almost there, Harris said, to Sidewinder." He was barely a murmur in the back of her brain, but he was there.

"I thought you shut off when I went to sleep?"

"Nay, nay, Agent Nebraska. We go into a sleep mode, too, we hear when we sleep. Just as noises can effect your dreams."

Adianna made a noise in the back of her throat and stretched, glancing at the figure that was Asher, snoring lightly, leaned back in his chair. They had fallen asleep, forgetting that there were cots in a compartment near the back of the ship. It was something that was easy to forget about when one was really tired and already in a chair. There was no need to wake him, she thought, and decided to walk around for a little bit. She walked, groggy still and a little unsteady on her legs, to the window, confused at how she'd gotten so tired after being stuck in that chamber for so long.

Sidewinder was a small ball off in the distance. Phi whispered that information to her as she squinted at it, not having her glasses or helmet visor on hand to see it very clearly. He continued to babble quietly, not trying to bother her but just to create background noise. He must have found out somehow that she didn't like complete silence unless she was trying to sleep. She wondered if Phi knew everything about her, sense he lived in her head.

The dot that Phi had told her was Sidewinder was slowing getting larger, and for awhile, she stayed at the window, trying to blink away the last of the drowsiness she felt. She didn't care much for coffee and was avoiding drinking the stuff, and to top it off her neck hurt from awkwardly resting her head on Asher's shoulder. A noise behind her caught her attention. She looked behind her shoulder and jumped when she saw Mitchells, who was watching her carefully.

"Sorry, Agent. I didn't mean to startle you." He said kindly, smiling. "You don't look well."

Adianna sighed, she had forgotten about the others on the ship, and was happy that the friendly one was the one to have found her. "I'm tired," She said, turning back to the window. "I slept stupid." She said, rubbing her neck absently, it still had a kink in it, and it sent small lances of pain down her neck as she turned back to the front.

"I see." Mitchells said, crossing his arms and coming along side the Freelancer. "That must be Sidewinder…" Adianna didn't even try to manage a nod of conformation with her neck the way it was at the moment. "We're going to replace some guys that got killed, by a Freelancer, like you." He said, not looking at her.

Adianna looked up at him, surprised. "Which one?"

"They don't say. The Freelancer was hired to get rid of them, so the Freelancer did." Mitchells shrugged. "The others have been wary of you and Agent Montana. It seems like an odd coincidence."

"We're not going to Sidewinder. We're going to Blood Gulch."

"Oh, we know." Mitchells sighed. "We wish we were, too. No one wants to get stuck on an ice planet." He kept his laugh quiet, trying not to wake up Asher.

Adianna cracked a small smile. "I'm not sure you'd want to be stuck on one where the sun never sets, either."

Mitchells tried to muffle his booming laugh. "I suppose not, Agent Nebraska!"

Asher muttered something almost inaudible and leaned forward, shaking his head as he woke up.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Asher." Adianna grinned as he glared at her. He never was in a good mood when he woke up.

"How long have you known him?" Mitchells said, curiously, gesturing at the half-asleep Asher.

Adianna shrugged. "I must have been about five when I met him, and we've been best friends sense then."

"It must be nice to always have someone with you like that."

"It lends me a lot of stability, and confidence, yes. Not to mention all the fun of poking fun, mocking, and getting to generally irritate him all the time, whenever I want." Adianna smiled. Mitchells chuckled.

"Anyway, back to the Freelancers and Sidewinder issue." Mitchells shook his head. "The people already on Sidewinder may not great you warmly, especially people on my side." He tapped his blue armor. "I apologize for the inconvenience."

Asher was over there then, all of a sudden, childish glee on his face. "You mean we're almost there?" His head whipped from Mitchells to Adianna, saying, "We can have a snowball fight!" He whipped again from Adianna to Mitchells, who looked a little shocked. "Will you join us? We can get Harris, too!" A gleeful cackle gurgled out of his throat, and Adianna, raising an eyebrow as she shared a look with Mitchells, raised herself onto her toes and bashed Asher in the back of the head with her small hand.

"Hey. Stop that." She said simply.

Asher turned back to her with tears in his eyes. "You hit me!"

"You're being obnoxious."

Asher looked at her defiantly, before he decided he was defeated by her and sighed. "Fine." He said. "But I will hit you with a snowball, even if it'll be the last thing I do. We haven't seen snow sense we lived in Iowa."

Adianna snorted. "You make it sound like that's depressing news, Montana."

At this point, Theta even chimed in. "At this point, I'm inclined to agree with Nebraska. Why would you want to go play in that? You're also an adult, which is something I should not have to point out."

Phi chuckled slightly in the background of her mind, listening to the conversation.

"You…hate snow." Phi observed as she thought about it. Adianna nodded a little as she responded to the Artificial Intelligence.

"Sometimes. When Frank was home sometimes it could be really fun, and it was great for getting me out of school when it got bad enough. But for the most part, I don't like it. Its cold."

"You have this habit of sucking the fun out of everything, Nebraska." Asher rolled his eyes as he spoke the words. "And you too, Theta. I never thought I was going to meet something that was more of a fun-sucking being then Adianna here." He sighed. "Its like everyone is ganging up on me!"

Mitchells laughed. "Sorry, man." He clapped a hand against Asher's shoulder, who buckled a little under the rough impact of the hand on his shoulder, but he smiled nonetheless.

"Well, this is nothing. Try dealing with her," He thrust a finger in Adianna's direction as he said 'her,' pointing at the blond girl and grinning maliciously, "Every day for most of your life."

Adianna made an irritated clicking nose with her mouth and glared at the Asher, who was still grinning. He shrugged off Mitchells and excused himself, claiming that he had to go to the restroom. Adianna rolled her eyes as he left, but grinned. Really, the two of them could not have been closer friends.

"So. That's pretty much it, then. Just be careful." Mitchells said, smiling at the Freelancer. "I know you aren't going to be there to do us any harm."

"You just want me to know everyone will be on edge. Right. I've got it." Adianna smiled back at the man and turned to the window. The planet seemed very close now, and sure enough Harris's voice came on over an intercom.

"We're going to be landing soon. Sit down and buckle up." He said before the intercom shut off with a slight static noise as feedback. Adianna looked back at the planet and pulled a screen over the window as she sat back down, Phi muttering quietly to himself. Adianna was amazed at how quickly she had gotten used to his ever-present buzz in the back of her mind, like is was just another part of her. Asher came and silently took his seat next to her, his jaw clenched again. Something told her Asher was still having trouble getting used to Theta. Cynicism had never been something that Asher had been fantastic at dealing with. She hoped that at some point it would make him a little stronger.

As they landed on Sidewinder, Adianna could feel the chill. She didn't like it, and she ground her teeth together to keep them from chattering. She wasn't really that cold, she just didn't really want to have to be on a planet made of ice, and the thought that they were actually on one made her feel like she was cold.

"Ah, the human mind and its ability to trick itself." Phi said.

"No one asked you." Adianna laughed as she looked over at Asher, and Theta who was projecting himself and watching quietly while the newest sidewinder Blues got off the ship.

"Asher. Report."

Two words and Asher responded accordingly. He had most of the information about this place, and Adianna wanted it. It wasn't an order per say, as they were equally rated, but Asher responded all the same in an automatic manner. There were things that Adianna would react too the same way as well.

"Sidewinder, Ice Planet. Used for live simulations. Red and Blue teams. There was a large slaughtering of the Blue Team some time ago when Freelancer Agent Texas was hired to dispose of them. One member was left alive and relocated. Mitchells and the others are here to replace the lost Blue Team."

"Right on, nothing I didn't know." She muttered.

Harris stepped into the main body of the ship then, grinning. "Well, here we are! He said, clapping his hands together. "Sidewinder. I'm sure they're having fantastic weather today,"

"That's a lie." Phi muttered.

"And that we're all going to have a blast."

"Also a lie,"

"And that everyone will welcome you warmly! Just let them know that you're here to inspect the bases or something."

"Not only is that yet another lie, but now we're being asked to lie."

"Phi, I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic." Agent Nebraska muttered back to the little AI, who was quiet for a second.

"Oh."

Adianna chuckled and put on her helmet, the visor flickering to life in front of her eyes so that she could monitor all kinds of things. She grabbed a weapon and left the ship, Asher following behind, his own dusty orange helmet on his head. Rifles in hand, they both descended off the ship and stepped into the snow which crunched beneath their feet.

Adianna blinked a couple times. The cold sunlight had bounced off the ice and snow and in its brilliance had blinded her. She wasn't thrilled about it and turned away, blinking the spots out of her vision. She could hear Asher's chuckle over the radio. "I thought you liked the show."

"I do, when I'm not being blinded by it." Nebraska explained, waving her hand in a slightly irritated manner at Montana. He knew full well that she didn't like the show when it was at a brilliant, blinding quality.

"Its probably best we don't stray far from the ship." Theta said softly, as though he was afraid he was going to be overheard by more than just the two freelancers and the other AI. "If we're not welcomed here, we should stay put. No point in causing trouble when we don't have too… everyone hates us, so there's not a point in moving."

"I don't think everyone hates us." Asher sighed, shaking his head. "The three on the ship with us don't." "Well. Maybe only Mitchells…." Adianna muttered quietly in response. She wasn't sure about the other two, and one was immensely creepy.

Harris stepped off the ship then, his footsteps crunching loudly in the snow. "We're not going to be here long." He said as he stopped by the Freelancer's. "I'm making sure they get to the base alright and then we're on the ship again, to your destination…. I just got orders that they need this ship back at the headquarters here soon, so we don't have time to dawdle anymore." He sighed. "Sorry if that's any sort of inconvenience for you."

"Oh… not at all." Adianna said, smiling behind her visor and knowing that Harris could not see this smile. A sort of relieved, impatient smile because she wanted to hurry up and get to where they were going all ready, which was Blood Gulch. Asher looked down at her and she knew, simply from knowing him as long as she had, that he was thinking something along the same lines… though he wanted to play in the snow.

Harris continued on, "So… I'm going to run to the base and then I'll return shortly. Try not to get in much trouble while I'm gone, alright?"

"Yes, sir." Both agents responded with that promise accordingly. An order was an order, even if it didn't sound like one at times.

"Good. So, be back soon." And with that, Harris stepped off. They watched him walk to the concrete base and disappear inside.

Agent Nebraska leaned against the side of the ship. She wanted to hurry up and go. Montana, on the other hand, circled around and made footprints, somewhat bored but entertained. He was plotting, and with his helmet on, Adianna couldn't read his thoughts by looking at his face. An evil grin cracked across his features like a lightning bolt, and as he walked to the front of the ship he bent low and scooped up a handful of cold snow.

Adianna heard his footsteps get a little faster, but he was Asher, after all, and she didn't think anything of it. Closing her eyes, she tried to rest a little.

"Nebraska…" "Go away, Phi."

"Nebraska."

"Phi. Shut up."

"No, really, Nebraska…"

"Phi, I really wish I could pu--" And with that, she became aware of the snowball whizzing through the air as it collided with the side of her head, making her lean to the side a little as it caught her off-balance. She heard an evil cackle over the radio, and the chuckle from both Theta and Phi.

"I told you, Adianna!"

"Asher, I really hate you."

"That's a dirty rotten lie, and you know it." Adianna glared through the helmet. The silence told Asher so. He laughed again.

"Why am I friends with you." she finally sighed, frustrated.

He flicked her helmet. "Why not?"

Harris walked from the base then, and the two freelancers stood to watch him return. As he approached his voice came over the radio. "You two ready to go?"

"Yes, sir." The two sounded off, and with that they followed him back onto the ship.

Just as before, Harris disappeared to go Pilot and as soon as they got inside, Adianna and Asher removed their helmets and sat down in the chairs, buckling in and getting ready to take off again for their destination, Blood Gulch. The Box Canon in the middle of nowhere in space.

They soared into the sky, and Adianna didn't bother to look back at Sidewinder as it grew smaller behind them. They were off to a new place, and that's what both she and Asher were looking for.

"Well, this is it then." Adianna sighed.

"Its not it yet." Asher whispered for no reason in particular. "We've still got a little ways to go before we get there. Its it when we finally do."

'Mmmhmm." Adianna closed her eyes and sat back in the chair. She had been very tired sense she had been kept in the chamber for so long. Asher's yawn told her that he was the same. They didn't wake up energized, the had woken up feeling groggy and it seemed like it was taking forever for everything to turn back on and their bodies functioning at a decent rate for their job. Which, Adianna supposed, was part of the reason that it had been decided by the Director to send them to Blood Gulch. A time to recover while working on and honing skills.

"Adianna, you falling asleep?" Asher called softly.

"Maybe. I'm seriously considering it."

"You've been sleeping a lot,"

"So have you." She pointed out.

Adianna cracked an eye open to look at Asher, who had turned a little bit and locked his bottle-blue eyes with hers. Best friends for life, the words ringing through her head as they had when she was seven and had told him so.

"Well, before you do, I have something to tell you."

"What's that?"

A small, wry grin came across Asher's face. "You've got snow on your armor." Adianna looked at her shoulder, and sure enough there was a little pile of melting snow there. She picked it up and looked at it for a moment, thinking. Asher watched her intently, and that's how the idea came into her head. She turned sharply, suddenly, and slammed the snow into Asher's face.

Phi, Theta, and Adianna herself couldn't help the laughter that followed.


End file.
